In Afghanistan, Illinois Guard troops soak up historic moment

In Afghanistan, Illinois Guard troops soak up historic moment
By Kim Barker Tribune correspondent
3:57 PM CST, January 20, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan - For two hours Tuesday night, the war on terror paused here, a brief moment when most soldiers in the Camp Phoenix cafeteria watched TV, ate cake decorated with a presidential seal and gave a standing ovation to their new commander in chief.

President Barack Obama was, after all, one of them, a man who had made Illinois his home, even if he wasn't born there. And so the room of 200 people, mostly soldiers from the recently deployed Illinois National Guard, erupted several times during the special inauguration viewing, shown on a large TV in the mess hall.

They are at the center of one of the biggest foreign policy challenges facing the new administration. Obama has said the real front line of the war on terror is in Afghanistan and Pakistan, not Iraq, and as many as 30,000 new U.S. troops will be sent to Afghanistan in the coming months, almost doubling the U.S. forces in the country.

"We've been excited all day," said Spec. Tiffany Givens, 22, a college student from Chicago's West Side, who shouted "Go-Bama, Go-Bama" when Obama first appeared on TV. "It's even better being in Afghanistan, because at least here, we're doing something positive."


In recent years, Taliban-led insurgents have gained strength in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Last year was the deadliest for U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, who are blamed for sheltering Al Qaeda leaders after the Sept. 11 attacks.

About 3,000 National Guard troops from Illinois, the largest deployment since World War II, arrived in Afghanistan recently to train Afghan police and soldiers.

Already, there have been casualties. Two soldiers died in a September blast; another died in an October suicide bombing. On Saturday, a suicide attacker injured five Illinois soldiers near a base in Kabul, one seriously. Another U.S. service member was killed; another injured.
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